Angela Mollard: King Charles needs to reunite with Harry

Prince Harry put his fears and feelings aside to honour his father at his coronation, now it is time for King Charles to do the same for his son, writes Angela Mollard.

With the crown finally on his head and his Queen by his side, you have to wonder what the new King thinks about when he eschews lunch each day and, instead, devotes the time to walking in his garden.

When you’ve waited 50 years to do the job you were born to there’s clearly a lifetime of ideas to finally execute, and mortality must be front of mind when both your parents have died in rapid succession.

As he surveys the gardens at Highgrove he’s so devotedly tended, I imagine the King also thinks about his legacy.

What will his contribution be to this ancient institution and the family caught forever in its thankless grasp?

As he ponders, I hope the King is coming to a realisation: before he heads off on a Commonwealth tour or a summer break at Balmoral, he must go to see his son.

Harry arriving at the coronation of his father, King Charles. Picture: Andrew Matthews – WPA Pool/Getty Images

I hear your laughter and understand your cynicism but as well as being the new monarch, Charles is a father. Prince Harry – whatever any of us might think of him – did the respectful and right thing by attending his Pa’s coronation. He didn’t have to go and after his no-holds-barred crucifixion of his family, Harry knew he’d have few friends in the pews.

But he did go. He put his fears and feelings aside to honour his father. It’s time Charles did likewise.

Whether he makes a special visit or drops in enroute to a tour of Canada it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t need to stay the night or take gifts. But as a father who has so desperately failed his son in the past, the King must acknowledge Harry’s olive branch and extend one in return. He needs to show his enduring love and care for his youngest son by visiting him, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet in their home in Montecito. However difficult it must have been for the King to read of his son’s unhappiness and sense of betrayal in Spare – particularly his criticisms of Camilla – the 74-year-old monarch must be the bigger person. All parents, unless ailing, are forever the leader in the parent-child relationship and there is no question that Charles is responsible for some of the ongoing trauma his son still harbours.

Charles with Camilla, who Harry was quite critical of in his autobiography ‘Spare’. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The monarch has admitted he should have facilitated a therapist for his boys after their mother’s death and no parent should’ve let a grieving 12-year-old walk behind his mother’s coffin. Of course, it’s Harry’s responsibility to deal with his pain and anger but a visit from his father could be the first gentle step to reconciliation.

If things were different, it would have been Diana sweeping into Harry and Megan’s home, scooping up her grandchildren and, even at 61, jumping with them on the trampoline. She would’ve made them feel like the most special kids in the world. That she can’t be there is all the more reason why the King must.

The Queen needn’t go – Harry was blistering to the point of cruel about his stepmother. But having encouraged the Duchess of Sussex to try to mend the fragile relationship with her father – a move that unhappily resulted in Thomas Markle revealing chunks of his daughter’s letter to the press – the King needs to show the same openness to repair. None of us can control another’s actions but we can choose how we respond. Particularly if we’re insightful enough to recognise that multiple views can coexist.

Prince Harry with his wife, Meghan Markle. Picture: Matt Dunham / AFP

Like me, you might think elements of Spare were nasty and unnecessarily inciteful, but you might also consider that Prince Harry’s memoir and Netflix series were no different to his parents’ revelations in Diana, Her True Story, Panorama and the 1994 interview with Jonathan Dimbleby.

Of course, the King may be concerned how any visit might be interpreted. What if Harry shared what was discussed? What if it backfired and they ended up arguing? I’ve written before of how the royal family would need a signed nondisclosure agreement before any one of them went near the voluble prince but Charles is smart enough to keep the dialogue in neutral territory. In any case, I believe Harry would be so touched he’d stay schtum. It’s three years since post Megxit, the fifth-in-line to the throne told his Sentebale charity that he was drawing a line under what his life had been and what he wanted it to become.

“I hope you understand what it had come to, that I would step back from all I have ever known to take a step forward to what I hope will be a more peaceful life,” he said.

With multiple court cases pending against British newspapers, a failed legal challenge in a police protection case, estrangement from his brother, his post-Spare diary looking particularly bare and a recent car “chase” with photographers in New York, it’s questionable whether Harry has found the peace he seeks. Throughout Spare, the Prince recounts conversations where his father calls him “darling boy”. Those words clearly mean a lot to him. Perhaps hearing them again will heal the hurt that still haunts him.